My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
In the galleries of prints (accessed by clicking the links immediately below) I am also adding fresh images offered for sale. If you get lost in the maze of links, simply click the "home" button to return to the blog discussions.

“Catching of Night Moths; moths are lured to three burning lamps
by night; men and boys use sticks to draw the insects out from the shrubbery;
farm buildings stand to the right, while a church is seen beyond”

Condition: near faultless, museum quality, richly inked impression
with small margins in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes,
abrasions, folds, stains or foxing) laid
upon a support sheet of conservator’s fine archival/millennium quality washi
paper.

I am selling this exceptionally rare, engraving from the late
1500s for a total cost of AU$244 (currently US$188.17/EUR159.62/GBP141.90 at
the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the
world.

If you are interested in purchasing this spectacular night scene—a
rare subject in the Renaissance era—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com)
and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

Night scenes may seem like they would be easy subjects to create, in
the sense that all an artist needs is a strong light and strong shadow and hey
presto! … a night scene is created. Of course, to create a finely tuned
representation of how light “works” in darkness is much more involved as may be
seen here.

One of the key principles is what is termed the Inverse-Square
Law. This “law” or perhaps “guide” is that the degree of illumination decreases
at the following ratio: the distance that a subject is away from the light
source squared (see my formal discussion about this topic at http://www.printsandprinciples.com/2012/03/berchem-inverse-square-law.html).
In this print, for example, each of the three moth-catching lights on the ground
projects a halo of harsh tonal contrasts on the features closest to them but
this degree of contrast decreases gradually into the evening darkness. A feature
in this print that really appeals to me is the way that Galle uses the just a
hint of light catching on the peripheral leaves in the dark foliage mass at the
very top of the composition.

Another important principle is that the surface textures of
forms—see for example the hindquarters of the foreground dog—exhibit no surface
textures in the strongest light but in the less strongly lit areas reveal
surface textures like the hair on a dog.

The final principle that I will mention is the one that is the most
effective of all and one which is the hallmark of the truly great masters
because it is such a subtle device to employ: reflected light. Note how Galle
introduces the suggestion of cast light from the ground illuminating the shadow
on the foreground figure’s legs on the right. At first glance a detail like
this could be overlooked but it shows the mastery of Galle in showing delicate
light that is “bounced” even into the darkest of shadows.